


Intimacy Comes In Many Forms

by Persiflage



Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [8]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Bernie Wolfe: World's Okay-est Lesbian, Episode Tag, Episode: s19e07 The Kill List, F/F, First Time, Implied Sexual Content, Literal Sleeping Together, Mash-up, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Serena Campbell: Bisexual Extraordinaire, Smoking, Trope de Trope, Tumblr Prompt, sleep intimacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27430609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Episode tag for The Kill List: what follows on from Bernie and Serena's first time together.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960414
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71





	Intimacy Comes In Many Forms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sanctitatem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctitatem/gifts).



> Written for an DoctorJamesWaston for the Mashed Up Tropes Meme on Tumblr, for the tropes: 89. First Time and 95. Sleep Intimacy.

After a day full of misunderstandings, apologies, and frankly sensational kissing following Bernie’s return from Kiev to Holby City General, her first time together with Serena is the most tender, sweet, and sensual love-making she’s ever experienced. It’s also terrifying, in a way, because this is Serena Campbell, her best friend in the world, and she is scared stiff of ruining their friendship with this increased intimacy. 

So scared is she, in fact, that when Serena makes it clear that she’s expecting Bernie to share her bed, for them to sleep together in the most literal sense, Bernie almost runs away again. 

“I – uh – I know this is a cliché, and also that you don’t like it, but I need a fag,” Bernie tells her, grabbing the packet of cigarettes from the front pocket of her satchel which she’d left on the floor propped against the leg of the dressing table. “Sorry.” She shoves her feet into her shoes, pulls on her coat without bothering to put on any other clothes, and hurries down the stairs before Serena can do more than gape at her in stunned surprise.

Serena finds her a few minutes later, leaning against the wall between the back door into the kitchen and the window.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

Bernie glances at her, taking in the fact that she’s got dressed again – which explains why Bernie had got through most of a cigarette before Serena appeared.

She swallows, then grinds out the end of her cigarette and sticks the butt into the half empty packet she brought with her. “Honestly?” 

Serena nods. “Yes. Tell me honestly. Please.”

“Doing my best to curb the urge to bolt again.” She shoves her hands into the pockets of her coat, pressing the fabric more closely to her body. She’s really not very warm since she’s wearing so few clothes.

Serena exhales slowly. “Why do you want to bolt?” she asks. Her voice is quiet, but Bernie can hear the tension underlying her words.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m just – I’m –” She heaves a loud sigh, then wraps her arms tightly around herself. “I’m really rubbish at intimacy.”

“What I experienced just now, what we shared upstairs, that wasn’t rubbish,” Serena tells her. “In fact, I think that was the best sex I’ve ever had. And, as I’m sure you’re aware, I’ve had plenty of sex because it’s something that I really enjoy.” She leans her shoulder against Bernie’s and quietly asks, “If the idea of sleeping in the same bed as me is really that scary then stay in the house with me but sleep in Elinor’s bed. We can still have breakfast together in the morning, but you get to have your own space for a few hours.”

Bernie sighs, then shivers, and Serena tuts, then grabs her arm and tugs. “Get inside before you catch you death of cold, you ridiculous woman.”

She allows herself to be tugged into the kitchen and Serena locks the door, then looks her up and down. Bernie’s still got her arms wrapped around herself, but she’s shivering violently now. 

“Go and use the shower in my ensuite,” Serena says. “Get yourself warmed up, and I’ll bring up a cup of cocoa to warm your insides. Unless you’d prefer soup?”

“C-cocoa, puh-please,” Bernie stutters, embarrassed by this entire situation.

“Right. Go and shower.” Serena jerks her head at the kitchen door and Bernie starts towards it, then stops and steps back into her personal space, pecking her quickly on the lips. 

“I’m sorry I’m an idiot,” she says quietly, then hurries away before Serena can answer for the second time that evening, although this time it’s not from fear but from cold.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernie steps out of Serena’s ensuite, wrapped in the fluffy bathrobe she found hanging on a hook on the back of the bathroom door, and can’t help a silent sigh when she sees Serena, now wearing lush red burgundy pyjamas, sitting on the bed with her back against the headboard, a cup of cocoa in one hand, and a copy of _The Lancet _in the other. She looks up at Bernie and gives her the sweetest smile Bernie’s ever seen.__

__“Feeling warmer?” she asks and Bernie nods. “Good. Now come and drink your cocoa before it gets cold.”_ _

__“Thank you,” Bernie whispers and Serena raises an eyebrow enquiringly. “For putting up with me.”_ _

__Serena pats the bed beside her, and Bernie settles into the space, then accepts the cup of cocoa that she passes to her._ _

__“It’s not a case of putting up with you, Berenice Wolfe. I love you. I know it’s very early days and I am absolutely not expecting you to say it back yet, or indeed ever, but you should know that I love you.” She huffs a laugh. “I am completely head over heels with you, despite the stunt you pulled with Kiev. But if you’re really that terrified of being intimate with me, then we won’t do this again. We’ll go back to being best friends and nothing more.”_ _

__“No.” Bernie says the word firmly, reaching for Serena’s hand with her free one._ _

__Serena drops the journal onto her lap, switches her mug to her left hand, and holds out the right to Bernie, who immediately tangles their fingers together and squeezes gently._ _

__“This won’t be easy for me.” She laughs shakily. “I’m fifty one years old and I’ve had exactly two relationships in my life. One a twenty five year marriage to a man while denying I’m a lesbian, the other a very few weeks of hectic sexual encounters in dark corners with a woman who was my subordinate, and therefore very much forbidden. I’m scared, Serena, because I just don’t know how to have a healthy relationship with someone.”_ _

__“It’s okay to be scared,” Serena says. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve never been more than friends with a woman before. So maybe we can learn how to do this together?”_ _

__Bernie gives her a shy smile. “I’d like that, I think. Thank you.”_ _

__“You’re welcome. Now finish up your cocoa so we can get some sleep.”_ _

__Bernie swallows it down in a handful of big gulps, making Serena roll her eyes at her. “I’m going to clean my teeth,” she says._ _

__Serena nods. “Do you want some clothes to change into or do you – uh – do you sleep nude?”_ _

__“Definitely clothes this time of year,” Bernie says, unable to quite keep a smirk from her lips. She ducks into the ensuite and cleans her teeth, finishes drying her hair, then uses the loo and washes her hands._ _

__By the time she steps back into Serena’s room there’s a pair of Keller’s scrub bottoms and an old Harvard t-shirt sitting on the free side of the bed._ _

__“That do you?” Serena asks, slipping from the bed and moving around it towards the bathroom._ _

__“Yes, thank you.”_ _

__She pulls off the bathrobe, draping it over the corner of the bed to be returned to the ensuite when Serena’s finished, and reaches for the t-shirt. She’s just pulled it over her head when she becomes conscious of being watched and she looks up to see Serena lounging casually against the doorframe, eyes glinting as she watches Bernie pulling on her clothes._ _

__“See something you like, Campbell?” she asks as nonchalantly as she can manage, given how fast her heart is suddenly racing._ _

__“Mmm, someone I like, Major.”_ _

__Bernie shivers, but not from cold, as Serena reaches up to switch off the bathroom light, then stalks across the room towards her just as she finishes pulling on the scrub bottoms._ _

__“Come to bed, Berenice,” she says, her voice low and sultry, and Bernie allows Serena to take her by the hand and lead her to the bed, sliding in under the luxuriously heavy duvet with a barely suppressed moan. Serena grabs the bathrobe and tosses it over the armchair in the corner, then rounds the bed and slides in under the duvet from the other side._ _

__“Turn off that light,” she says softly, and Bernie obeys, then settles back against the firm, plump pillows beneath her head as Serena turns off her own lamp._ _

__“C’mere, soldier,” she says, her voice pitched low._ _

__Bernie obediently shifts closer to her lover and Serena eases her arms around her torso, then tangles their legs together. She presses a soft, warm kiss to Bernie’s lips, then whispers, “Go to sleep.”_ _

__Bernie shifts minutely, eyes closing, and falls fathoms deep into a dreamless sleep._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](https://pers-books.tumblr.com/post/629713879208968192/89-first-time-and-95-sleep-intimacy-again-if-you).


End file.
